Solomon Islands Nickel Tender Due Next Week

Japanese Firm Expected To Bid

The Solomon Islands government is set to publish an international tender for a nickel mine in San Jorge and Takata, in the islands’ Isabel Province towards the end of next week.

Minister for Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification, David Day Pacha revealed this yesterday during a presentation to the government by the Sumitomo Metal Mining of Japan.

Mr Pacha said his officers are now finalising the papers and the tender for the nickel mine operations in Isabel will be announced and opened for bid on the 15th April.

Ichiro Abe of Sumitomo, said his company will submit a bid during the tender but he appealed to the government to ensure the tender conditions be fair. He said it should consider the capability of the successful company as well as what they are expected to offer to the people.

Sumitomo has been exploring for nickel-ore deposits in Isabel and Choiseul provinces since 2006 and plans to construct a High Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) plant that can process a low grade nickel ore into high grade ore. According to Mr Abe, Isabel and Choiseul have a lot of low grade ore.

“With the technology we have, we can develop these low grade ores into something valuable,” he said

He added that SMM is one the few companies to have this technology.

Jinchuan, Panoramic Extend Nickel Supply Deal

Australian Firm Will Supply Nickel for Further 10 Years

China’s largest nickel producer, the Jinchuan Group, has signed a supply agreement with Australia’s Panoramic Resources to buy nickel ore concentrate from the Australian company for a further 10 years.

The two companies first signed a deal for a five-year term in 2005. It was Jinchuan's first overseas project and laid the foundations for the Chinese firm to explore the overseas mining market.

The Jinchuan Group previously said that it plans to produce 130,000 metric tonnes of nickel and 6,000 tonnes of cobalt in 2010, largely unchanged from 2009.

Ontario Lowlands Set For Mineral Boom

Significant Mineral Development In Ontario's Ring of Fire

The provincial government of Ontario has announced plans to develop the James Bay Lowlands in the north of the province.

More than 20 mining companies are hoping to cash in on an area believed to contain high-grade deposits of nickel, copper, zinc, gold, chromite and palladium.

The government plans to build a railway, roads and processing facilities in an area known locally as the Ring of Fire.

James Bay Lowlands is an extremely wet area on the edge of Canada’s boreal forest, some 300-400km from any existing permanent infrastructure; however investors are concentrating on a 12 km area with the Lowlands region. Currently, access to the general area is by float plane and helicopter.

Significant preparatory work, such as environmental assessments and feasibility studies will be needed before the real work can begin. Whatever infrastructure is built will depend on the nature of the mineral projects, however it is thought that winter roads on ice and snow would probably suffice for most projects, which can be adapted to seasonal production. However, there are plans for a 320km rail line which will link Nakina, north of Lake Superior, to chromite mines in the Ring Of Fire. This is because, unlike some other mineral projects in the area, chromite mining is expected to be a year-round activity.

Canada Chrome has staked mining claims along one possible route in order to secure a right-of-way. “We’re in the early process of evaluating the project,” says Nels Ojard, the firm’s group manager for special projects. Mr Ojard added that the project is probably five to seven years from becoming a reality.

Frank Smeenk, president of Canada Chrome’s parent company, KWG Resources, said it is too early to tell whether processing facilities such as smelters and concentrators will be built at the Ring of Fire or elsewhere. This depends largely on the consistency of an electricity supply.

“In the fullness of time there will probably be a (power) line along the railroad,” Mr Smeenk said. “With the economic downturn in Ontario the demand for electricity has fallen out a bit, so there’s lots of power in Ontario. The problem with it is the price is very high.”

Berong Nickel Looking To Reopen Paladan Nickel Mine

Philippine miner Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. is hoping to reopen its Berong Nickel joint venture in Palawan, Southern Luzon later this year to take advantage of a rise in nickel prices. Atlas is also looking at setting up a processing plant.

Berong is a joint-venture between European Nickel Plc, Atlas Consolidated, and Toledo Mining Corp but the mine closed last February, laying off more than 600 workers after to a fall in nickel prices. But with prices up over 35 per cent over the past year Chairman Alfredo C. Ramos is hopeful that production will begin again soon and that it would sell to its traditional markets in Japan, South Korea and China.

Mr. Ramos said that if Berong Nickel Corp. resumed operations, the miner would still ship nickel ores to traditional markets like Japan, South Korea and China.

Berong Nickel has a supply agreement with BHP Billiton, the world’s largest miner, for the shipment of 500,000 MT of nickel ore per year until 2013. The mine is the world’s fourth-largest nickel laterite resource with a resource of about 275 million MT of nickel ores.

Atlas is also to study the viability of putting up a nickel processing plant to be able to supply a value-added product. This will mean a significant investment for the miner estimated at over P2 billion ($US 40 million) and finance officer Martin Buckingham has admitted that the company may end up having to find strategic partners for the project.

Meanwhile Berong shareholder European Nickel has decided to merge with Australia’s Rusina Mining NL to be able to spend $498 million for a nickel leach plant at the Acoje mine in Zambales.

China Imported 34 Per Cent More Nickel Ore In 2009

According to customs statistics released last week China imported 16.575 million tonnes of nickel ore in 2009, up by 34% YoY compared with 2008.


The main sources into China were: Philippines 8,783,000 tonnes, up 2.18 times from 2008 and Indonesia: 7,237,000 tonnes. New Caledonia was the third largest source of nickel ore for China in 2008 but China bought no nickel from New Caledonia in 2009 as its supplier, SMSP, is exporting its production to a new joint venture with POSCO of South Korea to produce ferronickel at a new refinery in South Korea.


The average unit prices for 2009 were Philippine ore: at USD 31.7 per tonne CIF and Indonesian ore: at USD 44.8 per tonne CIF. On the basis of these unit prices on material base, nickel contained in these two ores has been presumed to be 1.5% to 1.75% for Philippine ore and 1.7% to 2% for Indonesian ore.

Philippines Nickel Miner In USD281 Million Reverse Takeover Deal

Philippines miner Marcventures Mining and Development Corp. is to take over the Manila-listed property company AJO.net Holdings, Inc. during the first half of the year in a reverse takeover deal worth P1.3 billion (US$281 million). Marcventures shareholders will eventually control 97% of the combined company according to Augusto Serafica, Jr., executive director of Asian Alliance Investment Corp. who are advising the transaction.

Marcventures will then assume AJO’s stock market listing.

Marcventures Mining is a Butuan City-based nickel miner owned by local businessman Mario G. Vijungco, and has an estimated value of P1.49 billion (US$322 million).

AJO.net Holdings was founded in 1957 as an oil exploration and drilling firm, but became a holding company in 1996.

Mr. Serafica said Marcventures Mining and AJO.net Holdings would spend P200 million ($43 million) on commercial mining operations this year and will stockpile between 30,000 and 50,000 metric tons of nickel ore before releasing its first shipment. In its first year the enterprise is expected to produce 600,000 MT of nickel ore. This will rise to 800,000 MT in the second year and 1.2 million MT in year three. The company claims to have signed a contract with a Japanese firm for annual shipments of 1.2 million MT of nickel ore.

Marcventures has spent P300 million exploring and developing a 4,799-hectare nickel mine in Surigao in the Mindanao islands. One 120-hectare area in the property has an estimated resource of 19.08 million MT of high-iron limonite and 4.47 million MT of high-nickel saprolite ores that can be extracted within 20 years.

Talvivaara To Investigate Uranium Recovery

Finnish nickel mining company Talvivaara is to investigate the recovery of uranium as a separate product from its ore body

Talvivaara is to investigate the recovery of uranium as a separate product from its ore body in a project costing approximately EUR 30 million.

Talvivaara Mining Company Plc is planning to initiate the recovery and exploitation of uranium, obtained as a by-product of other metals, in the form of a uranium intermediate, yellow cake.

Natural uranium is a commonly occurring element which is also present in low concentrations in the Talvivaara ore body.

The Company plans to recover the uranium from its main leaching process by using a safe and technically simple solvent extraction process which is widely applied to metals recovery. This process modification will not alter discharge levels or other environmental impacts of the operations,

The bedrock and nickel ore in the Talvivaara area naturally contain uranium although surveys conducted by the Geological Survey of Finland have not revealed any abnormal radiation levels.

Annual production costs are estimated at approximately EUR 2 million and the annual production volume is estimated at approximately 350 tonnes. The extraction plant is expected to employ around 20 people directly and some 50 people indirectly.

The uranium oxide generated in the solvent extraction process will be packaged in airtight steel containers and transported for further processing, subject to appropriate supervision.

Liberty Chooses A Good Time To Get Back Into The Nickel Business

Now is the time to get back into the nickel business, says the president and chief executive officer of a junior nickel miner with operations in Timmins and Gogama.

"We make money at $7 (U. S. per pound) nickel," Gary Nash of Liberty Nickel said Monday. "We make good money at $8 nickel and very good money at $9 and so forth. Above $10 would be excellent, (but) I don't think it will go above $10. The Chinese have too much pig iron (a form of nickel)."

Liberty Nickel is now mining at its Redstone and McWatters Mines, producing 300 and up to 500 tonnes of ore a day respectively. McWatters, which is in the development stage and has now reached 150 metres of depth, is producing nickel. Ore from the two sites is treated at an on-site concentrator and shipped to Xstrata Nickel's Falconbridge smelter in Greater Sudbury for processing.

In the event of a labour dispute involving Mine Mill Local 598/CAW next month, he said Liberty Nickel could ship its concentrate to China for smelting. That's because its majority owner is the Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Company in Panshi City.

Nash said the Vale Inco strike "helps (nickel prices) in the short term. It's taken a little bit of nickel out of the market."

Nash said the company's cost of production is close to $7 US per pound. Nickel was selling for $8.31 US per pound on the London Metal Exchange on Friday.

Liberty Nickel plans to open a third nickel mine -- Hart -- by mid-2010. That mine will be staffed by McWatters Mine employees, but could require an additional 15 employees.

"It's about 4.5 years of mine life," he said. "But we have only drilled about one-third of the project. It has 737,000 (tonnes of ore) inferred and 600,000 measured. It's good grade ore at 1.5% nickel."

Nash said it's hard to understand why nickel prices are in the $8-9 US range while inventories of the metal in the London Metal Exchange warehouses are at record levels.

"That is totally against the laws of economics, the law of supply and demand," he said. "You have 160,000 tonnes sitting in the LME warehouses, but there's 114,000 sitting in one warehouse in Rotterdam. Why is that metal just sitting there when the American steel producers are paying a premium up to 90 cents a pound to get nickel for their (stainless) steel?"

David Constable, vice-president- investor relations of FNX Mining, which operates the McCreedy West and Podolsky mines and the Levack Footwall deposit in Greater Sudbury, isn't concerned about what happens with nickel in 2010 because FNX is focused on copper.

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"Right now, our star is hitched to the copper market," he said "We are out of the nickel business, have been out since the fourth quarter of 2008.

Constable said the company is looking to mine nearly 900,000 tonnes of ore at its Greater Sudbury operations, producing just less than 50 million pounds of copper and eight million pounds of nickel.

Constable said with China's appetite for nickel remaining constant, while world inventories of nickel continue to grow, it is FNX's view that the world nickel market will fully recover when the North American and European economies fully recover. That recovery, he said, won't come until the end of this year or sometime in 2011.

"We have said from the beginning when everything went in the tank, this is going to be a two-or three-year wave," he said.

FNX now has about 450 people working at its Greater Sudbury operations, up about 40 from the end of 2008. Ore from the operations is being processed at Vale Inco's Clarabelle Mill in Greater Sudbury.

Ursa Major Minerals Inc., which shut down its Shakespeare nickel open pit operation just outside of Greater Sudbury in October 2008, is looking to re-open it shortly.

"It's a matter of days," said Richard Sutcliffe, the company's president and chief executive officer. "We believe there is a favourable outlook for the metal for the foreseeable future ... We believe the recovery has taken hold."

Sutcliffe said 35 people were working at Shakespeare when it shut down. Ore from the operation will be crushed on site and then sent to Xstrata Nickel's Strathcona Mill for processing.

Ursa Major Minerals is also looking at opening a second nickel mine -- the Nickel Offsets Mine -- also northwest of Greater Sudbury.

"We're getting there," said Sutcliffe. "It's quite promising. "We have some numbers we're putting out in the next week. We're quite impressed by them, but the main focus is Shakespeare."

Source: Sudbury Star

Mirabela May Build New Nickel Smelter

Bloomberg reports that Australian miner Mirabela Nickel Ltd may build a smelter to process nickel ore from its Santa Rita mine in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state and start underground mining.

The report cited Mr Antonio de Jesus Santana, a technical officer at state owned exploration company Cia. Baiana de Pesquisa Mineral, as saying that the expansion at the USD 600 million open pit mine that Mirabela started operating last month will depend on financing.

CBPM rented the mine site to Mirabela for 20 years and will receive 2.5% sales royalties. Mirabela will be Brazil’s second biggest nickel miner after Votorantim Group, producing about 150,000 tonnes of nickel concentrates in the mine’s first year. The mine will produce 210,000 tonnes a year when its open-pit operation reaches full capacity and may expand further with underground mining. Votorantim will buy half Santa Rita’s output on contract until 2014. MMC Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest nickel producer, will buy the

Mr Santana added that “Underground mining would expand Santa Rita’s productive life from the 10 years foreseen with an open pit operation. The underground mine and the smelter projects go hand in hand.”

Antam Tambang Anoounces Increase In Nickel Output

Indonesia's state-owned miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk forecast on Thursday its nickel output would jump 42 percent next year after restarting its third ferronickel smelter and on expectations of demand picking up.

Antam expects to produce 17,000 tonnes in 2010, up from 12,000 tonnes this year, Alwin Syah Loebis said.

"FeNi 3 has resumed operations. We also see that nickel demand is increasing. So we are production can be higher," Loebis said.

FeNi 3, its third ferronickel smelter, is expected to resume full operations in November after months of maintenance, he said.

The price of nickel MNI3, used in stainless steel, stood at $18,400 a tonne at 0702 GMT on Thursday, after gaining 57 percent so far this year. But the price is still about 64 percent below a record high of $51,800 a tonne hit in May 2007.

Antam also confirmed it was in talks with PT International Nickel Indonesia (INCO.JK) on the possibility of resuming its nickel supply agreement.

"Inco has exploration near our facility while we are also looking for nickel supplies nearby. We expect to conclude discussions in the near future," Loebis said without elaborating.

The agreement to supply nickel from PT Inco's Pomalaa mine in Sulawesi ended in August 2008.

Under the agreement, which started in February 2003, PT Inco which is 60.8 percent owned by Brazil's Vale Inco supplied about 1 million tonnes of nickel ore annually to Antam's ferronickel smelters.

If an agreement is reached, Antam may use the nickel to feed its ferronickel plant FeNi3 in Pomalaa.

Antam currently sources nickel ore from its mines in Halmahera, North Maluku, for the smelters.

Antam, which is 65 percent-owned by the Indonesian government, is involved in the exploration and production of nickel ore, bauxite and iron sands, smelting of ferro-nickel, and exploration, production and refining of gold and silver.

Source: Reuters

Rizhao Takes The Lead In Nickel Ore Imports

Metal Biz reports that the import of nickel ore at Shandong Rizhao port broke through 4.6 million tonnes in the first eight months of this year, standing at the forefront of China's coastal ports.

As a result the imported price of nickel ore at Rizhao has become the standard of pricing in China's domestic nickel ore market.

Source: Steel Guru

China Eyes Philippine Mining Projects

With China’s economy again showing signs of robust growth, Beijing is now encouraging Chinese firms to aggressively pursue mining projects in the Philippines to support its projected hike in demand for minerals and metals, Zhengping Wu, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Manila, said.

Taking the cue from their government, Chinese companies have started to show renewed interest for mining projects in the Philippines, with Jinchuan Group Ltd. reportedly resuming talks with Philnico Industrial Corp. for the reopening of the Nonoc nickel mines. Related story in “Regions,”

“I heard they are now starting to resume [talks]. I hope that discussions at the corporate level will be successful. The demand for nickel in China is there. But this is a business decision rather than political,” Wu said at the Mining Philippines 2009 Conference and Exhibition at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City on Wednesday.

Wu said the Nonoc mine is one of the important projects discussed by the Philippines and China at the ministerial level.

Jinchuan and Philnico were close to signing a multibillion-dollar deal years back but the talks were stalled after the Chinese firm reportedly dilly-dallied.

Besides Nonoc, Jinchuan is also interested in acquiring the North Davao Mining Corp. site in Compostela Valley.

Jinchuan is one of the seven companies that prequalified for the bidding of the project along with another Chinese firm China Nonferrous Corp., Asia Alliance, Wellex Petroleum Corp., Century Peak, Mount Sinai and Carascal Nickel Mining Corp., the Philippine Mining Development Corp. disclosed.

Wu said the Zijin Mining Group would also surely get the clearance from Beijing to pursue its deal with Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. for the acquisition of a 20-percent stake in a copper-gold project in Benguet.

Wu said China’s demand for metals and minerals is expected to increase anew to support the country’s infrastructure and industrial requirements.

He said Beijing area alone is constructing 12 railways and 12,000 kilometers of expressway in the next few years.

Being a close neighbour, Wu said the Philippines has been a steady supplier of minerals to China. For instance, 55 percent of China’s nickel-ore importation came from the Philippines.

With this, Wu said Chinese investors need to forge long-term and strategic partnerships with mining companies in the Philippines.

The two governments, meanwhile, should help in facilitating win-win arrangements for their private sectors, he said.

Wu added that Beijing wants Chinese companies to establish operations in the Philippines from the upstream to the downstream manufacturing sectors to also help in generating employment and revenues here.

Source: Business Mirror

Philippine Nickel Miner Aims For First Big Shipment

A local miner will spend almost P100 million to start commercial operations in its nickel mine in northeastern Mindanao and produce its first large shipment this year, a senior official said late last week.

"Based on a seven-year mining plan prepared by a competent mining engineer, investment requirements on the delineated 86 hectares amount to P99.417 million," Concepcion C. Sagun, vice-president of Century Peak Corp., said in a presentation to officials of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

The total investment for the open-pit project on Dinagat Island consists of P25.5 million for mine development, P27.81 million for capital expenditures, and P46.107 million for working capital, she added.

The area has total resources of 11.900 million wet metric tons of nickel ore, enough to sustain operations for at least 10 years.

Initial production will be one million wet metric tons of ore per year with about 1.1% nickel grade. This will double during peak production, Ms. Sagun said.

About 100,000 wet metric tons of nickel ore will be sold to China, she said. At $10 per pound of nickel, Century Peak will earn an estimated revenue of P616.320 million, she said.

Nickel prices for cash buyers on Friday closed at $7.39 per pound, up from the average $4.75 per pound in the first quarter but lower than the record $24 per pound early last year, data from the London Metal Exchange show.

Asked where the miner will source its funds, Ms. Sagun said "the funds will be from equity contribution. But the problem right now is that there is a worldwide slump."

"We might go into loans, equity and placement in stocks," she told reporters, adding that parent company Century Peak Metals Holdings Corp. might list on the stock exchange.

The miner is also looking for a foreign partner. "We are looking into [partnering with foreigners] especially in smelting because that is capital intensive," she said.

Ms. Sagun said Century Peak Metals Holdings would operate the nickel smelting plant, which will ship processed nickel ore to China.

The tenement was held by Casiguran Mining Corp. from 1992 to 1995. It was later declared a non-performing tenement by the Environment department and was taken from Casiguran. In 2006, it was reinstated to Casiguran, which transferred the rights to Century Peak in the same year.

Century Peak also has nickel projects in Zambales and Palawan. It has eight other nickel properties on Dinagat Island, which includes the 1,935-hectare Rapid City 3 nickel project, the 463-hectare Rapid City 2 project, and the 71-hectare Min Pro area.

Source: Business World Online

BHP, Asiaticus End Nickel Mine Dispute

BHP Billiton Ltd. has announced that it has ended its dispute with the Philippine partner Asiaticus Management Corp. to pave way for a nickel mine project.

BHP Billiton Ltd. is a diversified natural resources entity having businesses of producing alumina and aluminum, copper, thermal-energy, coal, iron ore, nickel.

BHP and Asiaticus have been in a legal conflict since 2008 after the unlisted Asiaticus considered void its JV agreement with BHP, as the latter was accused by the former saying it was moving too slowly in developing the Pujada mine in the Southern Mindanao region.

Pujada is estimated to have 200Mt of nickel ore reserves with 1.3% nickel. In May 2008 Asiaticus gained a ruling from a Philippine court which barred BHP from the Pujada site compelling it to halt exploration activities.

BHP has committed to invest up to $2 billion in the mine which included a nickel processing plant and has spent about $3 million on exploration.

Source: Commodity On-line

$3Bn Nickel Project Planned For Mindanao

Jspan's Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd. and local holding firm Nickel Asia Corp. will put up a $3-billion nickel ore processing plant in northeastern Mindanao next year.

The joint venture partners will operate the nickel processing plant by 2013, Rogelio G. Cadano, technical services manager of Taganito Mining Corp., said yesterday in a presentation to Mines and Geosciences Bureau officials.

The $1.7-billion investment target set by the venture last year was almost doubled to $3 billion this year given an increase in expected mineral production to 45,000 metric tons of nickel per year, with 4,500 metric tons of cobalt, from the original 30,000 metric tons per year.

The ores to be processed will come from a 1,000-hectare nickel mine in the municipality of Claver in Surigao del Norte, Mr. Cadano said.

"The joint venture company with Sumitomo should be formed by the end of this year or early next year," said Antonio K. Espeleta, vice-president for operation of Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp.

Taganito Mining is a subsidiary of Nickel Asia. Sumitomo subsidiary Taganito HPAL will operate the $3-billion project.

Nickel Asia operates nickel mines Rio Tuba, Taganito in Surigao del Norte, Taganaan in Surigao City, and South Dinagat and Cagdianao in northern Mindanao.

"The Sumitomo group is preparing the feasibility study but there was a re-scheduling so it will be completed late this year or early next year," Mr. Cadano told reporters.

The Sumitomo-led venture will employ 4,000 workers during the development phase.

The number of workers, however, will go down to 1,300 during the 30-year operation to extract 150 million wet metric tons of nickel ore. Annual mining operation is estimated to cost $200 million.

The ores will be shipped exclusively to Sumitomo’s refinery in Japan, Mr. Espeleta said.

"By that time [of the operation], prices of nickel might have already increased," Mines bureau Director Horacio C. Ramos said

Source: Business World, Philippines

Big Fall In China Nickel Imports

According to customs statistics recently released, China imported 1,700,000 tonnes in material of nickel ores in the January to March quarter of 2009, down by 52% compared with 3,550,000 tonnes in the same quarter of 2008.

Also the unit price of nickel ores imported from the Philippines and Indonesia into China in the beginning of May and discharged at such main Chinese ports as Rizhao, Lianyungang and Lanshan were at CNY 260 to 280 per wet tonne of material on a CIF base.

For reference, the unit prices of nickel ores imported into China in May of 2008 were at CNY 880 per wet tonne CIF for Philippine ore and CNY 760 per wet tonne CIF for Indonesian ore a fall of two-thirds in comparison with those in the same month of 2008.

In order to fix the price of nickel ore containing 2% min of Ni to be imported into China, the country has adopted the formula linked with the LME nickel price which Japan has already applied, but the price of low grade nickel ore, containing less than 1.8% of Ni has been settled for each case through mutual negotiation.

According to customs statistics released in China, in January to March quarter of 2009, the country imported 726,000 tonnes in material of nickel ore from Philippines and 804,000 tonnes from Indonesia. China had nil of nickel ore to be imported from New Caledonia in January to March quarter of 2009.

Source: Steel Guru

Chinese Nickel Ore Stocks Hit 8.1 Million Tonnes

China nickel stocks hit about 8.1 million tonnes at ports by the end of April 2009 and 6.5 million tonnes were piled at Rizhao, Lanshan, Lianyungang and Tianjin ports.

Import quantities of laterite-nickel ore and nickel concentrate remained steady in the first quarter.

Customs' data shows that China imported 570,000 tonne of nickel ore in March and totalled 1.69 million tonnes in the first three months sliding by 52% year-on-year. Arrivals from Indonesia reached 120,000 tonnes at a price of USD 37 per tonne in March 2009, when 410,000 tonnes flooded from Philippines at USD 21 per tonne.

The mport price of laterite-nickel ore plunged sharply compared to that in the last year. Following the end of monsoon, imports from the Philippines shot up in March 2009, but volumes from Indonesia dropped in the same period, as their ferronickel enterprises still widely suspended production, heavily dragging down the demand for high grade nickel ore.

In March, China purchased 21,288 tonnes of nickel concentrate from Australia, 11,658 tonnes from Russia and 5,615 tonnes from Botswana. The total nickel concentrate import in March reached 40,000 tonnes, which were mainly delivered to Jinchuan, Gansu Province, the largest nickel production base in China.

Source: MySteel/Steel Guru

Ursa Major To Ship Nickel-Copper Ore To Xstrata

Ursa Major Minerals of Toronto is shipping 10,000 tonnes of stockpiled nickel-copper ore from its Shakespeare mine to Xstrata Nickel's Strathcona mill in Sudbury. The sample will be evaluated for its suitability for blending with Xstrata's own ore. Delivery is to be completed by the end of June 2009.

Richard Sutcliffe, URSA Major's CEO said in a news release, "URSA Major is well positioned to survive the downturn in base metal commodity prices and to achieve a rapid restart of operations when conditions permit. Other than limited maintenance costs and property taxes, the company has no financial obligations required in order to maintain the Shakespeare property.

"We anticipate that base metal prices should strengthen in the second half of 2009 through 2010, with significant price improvement in the longer term. The Shakespeare deposit benefits significantly from the recent copper price gains as our ore produces more copper than nickel. Platinum has also shown strong recent price improvement and is a significant part of our metal payments," he concluded.

The Shakespeare pit is located 70 km west of Sudbury.

Source: Canadian Mining Journal

Philippines Shipped 351,000 Tonnes Of Nickel Ore In January

Figures released by the Philippines' Mines and Geosciences Bureau on Tuesday reveal that the country exported 351,000 tonnes of nickel ore in January. One local firm, SR Metals, shipped 250,000 tonnes to China. Taganito Mining Corp. and Rio Tuba Mining Corp. each shipped 50,500 tonnes to Japan.

Mining companies are now required to obtain a mineral export permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which oversees the MGB. The new directive is intended to enable the government monitor the country's mineral shipments. As a result, the agency was unable to provide comparative figures.

Berong Nickel Lays Off 600

A subsidiary of Philippine Stock Exchange-listed Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation has suspended operations in its mine site in Palawan in the Philippines.

Atlas told the Philippine Stock Exchange that Berong Nickel Corp. has also laid off 600 workers owing to weak demand for nickel ore and has decided to halt its operations until April. China's demand for laterite ore has fallen substantially and the company was unable to close a deal with Australian firm BHP Billiton for a bigger volume allocation for this year. However, it has secured a contract with BHP Billiton to supply of up to 500,000 tonnes per year of nickel laterite ore until 2013, with an option for additional five years to 2018.

Negotiations to increase the volume to 1 million tonnes were unsuccessful.

"Whilst disappointing, approximately half this volume can be supplied from stockpiles which mean full scale mining operations can be deferred until the second half of 2009," Atlas said.

Presently, Berong Nickel has less than 50 people employed at its mine site.

"It is never pleasant having to lay off more than 600 employees and contractors, especially in a region with little alternative employment opportunities. However, this action is essential to the long term viability of (Berong Nickel) and hence the prospect for future prosperity within the local community," Atlas said.

The company has also announced that in 2008 Berong Nickel has produced 476,850 tonnes of ore, 53,000 tonnes less than in 2007. For the fourth quarter of last year, output was only 16,279 tonnes.

"Production was reduced in response to the increasing stock levels, deteriorating markets and onset of the non-shipping window," the company said.

Atlas said that from late-October to February, shipments are difficult due to the irregularly rough sea conditions making loading unsafe.

In October, Berong Nickel delivered 47,995 wet metric tonnes of nickel laterite ore to BHP Billiton in Australia at an average grade of 1.54-percent nickel and 34.13-percent iron.

In the last quarter the Chinese market for laterite ore further declined and is expected to remain depressed until this year.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests more than 8 million tonnes of laterite ore is currently stockpiled at Chinese ports," Atlas said.

Source: GMANews TV